Scents & Sensibility

Words by: JPS for duncan quinn

When it comes to gent’s grooming products with a royal pedigree, it’s hard to top Penhaligon’s,

the London manufacturer of “toilet requisites” established in 1870 that holds Royal Warrants from the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. Blenheim Bouquet, the company’s first bespoke fragrance, was created for the Duke of Marlborough in 1902. Penhaligon’s, which now “strives to create original scents for the discerning eccentrics of the day” including, apparently, British Prime Minister and Old Etonian David Cameron, has partnered with swank London watering hole the Old Bengal Bar on a new cocktail menu based on some of its classic scents.

The bar will offer five cocktails, each designed to “recreate the experience of inhaling a Penhaligon’s fragrance” in addition to providing a flavor evocative of its aroma, in a nod to the firm’s dictum that scent can “unlock memories and open doors, and stop us in our tracks, lost somewhere for a moment in time – much like a good drink. Cocktails on the menu include the Levantium, combining Hibiki Japanese Harmony, Absinthe, Peychaud’s bitters, Angostura bitters and clove smoke, and the Equinox Bloom, a blend of Mount Gay Black Barrel rum and Aphrodite bitters with violet liqueur, jasmine syrup and orange blossom. The partnership will run for three months – plenty of time to sample them all.